Affiliation
by FyrandTheGryffinclaw
Summary: Earth. Air. Fire. Water. Mind. Heart. Body. Soul. Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians franchise, this is a nonprofit activity strictly for my own enjoyment and maybe yours too.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO, HOO, or any characters from either series. I only own the plot of this story.**

* * *

Earth. Air. Fire. Water. Mind. Heart. Body. Soul.

Nothing would ever be the same. She would never see her home again. She would never get to see _him_ again. No.

After all, how does one convince her mother to _not_ move thousands of miles away once said mother's mind was made up? So all she could do was wave goodbye, tell him she loved him and would never forget him, and get on the train to leave.

But it was as the tears were falling from her eyes and blurring her vision, as the train just started to pull away, that she looked down at the last gift he ever gave her. It was a small potted plant, with a single budding flower. She gently caressed it with her finger, whispering, "We'll be alright. Just you see." Before her eyes, the bud began to open up, revealing a beautiful flower. It continued to grow, defying logic, the stem branching off to form two more flowers.

She looked up to her mother, to see if she noticed, but of course, her mother was turned away, convincing another fool to buy into her fortune-telling nonsensical voodoo. Sighing, she turned back to the window once again, just in time to see a cone hat labeled DUNCE bobbing on top of a sea of curls, for the last time ever.

* * *

It happened during a summer storm. He was just walking along on his way after an argument with his now ex-girlfriend Drew when suddenly a thunderstorm started brewing, forming out of nowhere. He sped up, trying to make the last few blocks to his apartment, because he didn't want to get caught in the storm when the downpour began.

He'd jinxed himself. As soon as the thought passed through his mind, he was drenched from his blonde hair to his purple shirt to his Nike shoes. Thunder was rumbling over the loud city sounds of L.A.

He felt a sudden burst of energy run through his body, almost like the adrenaline rush he got during a track race, but even stronger. He felt _powerful_. A split second later, it stopped. He didn't feel any different than he did before it happened, but when he looked down the ground was burnt and blackened. _What just happened? Did_ he _do that?_

He decided to worry about it later, and he jogged the rest of the way home.

* * *

He never liked Aunt Tia, and she never liked him. After his mother died in her field, he was put into her care. Many days he wondered why he didn't just run away from it all, run away from _her_. Then logic answered him, saying _If you run away, the child services will just bring you back_. He couldn't argue with logic.

But eventually, it was too much. He couldn't handle it anymore. So he packed his bag with everything he would need, stole a few hundred from Tia, and walked out. She stopped him just before he reached the street, grabbing his upper arm so tight he knew he was gonna find more bruises later. Yelling, he slapped her and she was so shocked she temporarily let go. He shoved her back as hard as he could, and then he turned and ran. He ran as fast and as far and as long as he could.

He didn't see her fall onto the ground after he shoved her. He didn't see the bush by the front window catch fire spontaneously, or how it spread to the house. He didn't see the news reports warning citizens of a dangerous delinquent Latino boy, showing a picture of him from two years ago, and a hotline to call if they saw him. All he did was run.

* * *

Some people could call him daredevil. In truth, he just liked to test himself.

Water had always fascinated him, the way that it moved, the way it _felt_. He could never get enough of it. So of course, he spent as much time at the pool as his mom would allow. He would try to get faster, he would stretch himself to his limits and then more. But some limits aren't meant to be broken.

One day, he was working on holding his breath. While sitting on the bottom of the pool. He knew it was unsafe, but he trusted he would be fine. He'd just hit two minutes, and it was beginning to burn a little bit, but he told himself _just ten more seconds_. Again. And again. By the time he knew that he _needed_ air, it was too late. He knew if he blacked out here at the bottom of the pool, he would most certainly die, so he pushed up with his legs. He couldn't make it though. His body got the best of him two feet under and he gasped in, but it wasn't air he inhaled.

His only thought was _I'm not dead._

* * *

She always knew she was smart. In fact, she always knew she was brilliant. Not only did she have straight A+s all through school, but she won first place in every spelling bee, every math competition, every everything. You would never expect it when you first saw her, but it was stereotypes like those that drew her crazy.

She never forgot her stepmother and -brothers, but she wished she could. She would put it in her past, though, because this new family was everything she could ever need and then some. Mrs. Castellan was wonderful, and after a couple of years, Mrs. Castellan became Mom. She had never known her real mom, so she never expected to have a mother figure in her life.

She was never really anybody special, but she didn't mind. She was special to _him_ , her new brother, and that was all that she needed.

* * *

She didn't want to be who she was. She didn't want to be beautiful, or to be the daughter of a famous movie star, or have the reputation of the "mysterious beauty" at school. She just wanted to fit in. But she couldn't help who she was. Just like she couldn't help but see what she did.

She hadn't told anyone, because she didn't have any close friends that she could tell. Besides, how was she supposed to tell someone "hey, I can see your emotions and if I wanted to I could control them too." That wasn't something you just _told_ someone. She didn't even know how she could do it, she just knew she could. She could see that _this_ cheerleader and _that_ football player were crushing on each other, even if they didn't even know it yet. Sure enough, a few weeks later, they were together.

Sometimes, her abilities freaked her out.

* * *

 _You can be anything._

That was the only thing he remembered from his mother. She was all about that motivational nonsense. But oh, if only he had known then how true it was.

He would volunteer at the animal rescue center, because nobody, not even a kitten, should have to go through the feeling of loss that he did when his mother passed. He was often bullied at school for his appearance or personality, and none of his tormenters knew that he volunteered at Mars Rescue Shelter.

This particular afternoon, the leader had just happened to have decided to look at the shelter puppies. He didn't remember much from that day, just the want, the _need_ to not be seen. The need to fit in. The next thing he knew, the bell on the door jingled, and he was looking up at them from the floor. _How did he get down here?_ He saw his supervisor walking toward him, and suddenly he was being picked up by Ms. Ramirez and placed onto a wooden table. Everything was fuzzy. _What was happening?_

"Silly Hannibal, how did you get onto the floor?"

 _Hannibal? But his name wasn't Hannibal. Hannibal was the name of his favorite rescue kitten._ The events following were clouded by a daze of his confusion, but shortly afterward the bullies had left and Ms. Ramirez had gone into the back room muttering, "Now where has that boy gone off to now?" He didn't know what was going on. He just wanted to get back to his grandmother's house. At that thought, he heard a crash and felt a burst of pain in his back. He wasted no time in racing out of the door, paying no mind to the wreckage on the floor or Ms. Ramirez's voice shouting for him to come back.

* * *

He would never forget her. He lay flowers for her every week, spoke to her every day, missed her every second. She'd never spoken back to him. Until she did. One can imagine his shock to see his late sister of over two years showing up and talking to him as if she'd never left. At first he thought he was hallucinating, but by the fifth day in a row, he knew it was real. This wasn't a figment of his imagination, this was _her_ , complete with her olive skin, murky green beanie, and freckles.

Soon he tried to experiment with her. He knew she was dead, but if she was here, what could she do? Could she interact with objects? No. But she could touch _him_. She could sweep his too-long hair out of his eyes, cup his face, and tell him to move on, to get over her, to live his life. And that's exactly what she did.

But he didn't want to move on. All he wanted was her.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading the whole chapter! I might update again within a week, I don't really have an update schedule yet. This was just something I thought of late last night and I had to at least start making it.**

 **Did you see a typo? Have a suggestion, question, or comment? Leave a review if you do! No flames please. But seriously, I will forever appreciate you if you actually take the time to go back and find a typo in one of my chapters, just specify where it was. Thanks!**


	2. Voices

**Hey, I'm back! I'm a little proud of myself for writing the second chapter so quickly. Also, a note for "Thunder" in the reviews: Thank you for taking your time to review, I really appreciate that you took time out of your busy life to review to my story. However, next time, and this applies to everyone, don't just reply with "Terrible" as Thunder did, or any other one-word reviews. If you spot something in the story that you feel could be done better, such as a typo or a plot hole, or if you want to compliment or comment on something you liked, please tell me and I will take your words to heart. Otherwise, thank you for your review, but don't waste your time by writing one word.**

* * *

Mind

* * *

"You have fifty minutes. You may begin," Mr. D's droning apathetic voice announced to the class. Just this one last period and then Annabeth was free for the weekend. She could practically taste it.

Not to say that Annabeth didn't like school. In fact, quite the opposite. It was just that this particular weekend was one that she looked forward to every year.

After Annabeth had run away from her father and neglectful stepmother when she was seven, she had been almost been caught by social services and forced into the foster program, or worse, back home. Luckily, she had been found by a fourteen-year-old boy name Luke, who had protected her and taken her back to his home to be cared for. After Mrs. Castellan had heard Annabeth's story, she invited her to live with their small family of two, at least for a while.

This was the first time Annabeth had felt truly loved in about two years since her father had married her stepmother, so of course she accepted the offer. Immediately Annabeth requested that the Castellans adopt her. Unfortunately, adoption was a complicated process, especially in this case where her biological parent still wanted her.

After several months, a lot of paperwork, multiple phone calls with Mr. Frederick Chase, and many meetings, Mrs. Castellan and Frederick had worked out an agreement. Seeing as Mrs. Chase didn't want Annabeth in her home, but Frederick still wanted to be her father, they agreed that May Castellan could adopt her but Frederick would still visit her often.

Originally the visits were every weekend, but after he got a new job offer in San Francisco, they became increasingly infrequent.

Now, seven years later, a sixteen-year-old Annabeth Castellan-Chase was just finishing up her math test, with half of the class period left to spare.

She finished solving the final equation and stood up to walk to Mr. D's desk to turn her test in. Because her last name began with C, she sat in the second row, so it wasn't a very long walk.

Just before she reached Mr. D's desk, she heard the local prep Drew Tanaka's voice sharp and clear, as if Drew was standing right behind her. "Of course the goody-two-shoes bitch is done first."

Annabeth spun around, her long curly blonde hair whipping through the air, ready to face the raven haired speaker. However, when she turned around, she only saw a classful of students scribbling down answers.

"Is there a problem, Miss Chavez?" a drawl questioned behind her. She slowly turned back around and placed the paper on the desk.

"No, sir." With that, she made her way back to her seat quietly.

On her way, she heard another voice, from a soft-spoken boy who she thought was named Tyson. He didn't speak much, so she didn't know him that well. "I wish I was as smart as her. She's pretty too. I like her hair." Annabeth turned to look at him, surprised not only that he talked, but also that he talked during a test, because no one - _no one_ \- talked during test day in Mr. D's class. Of course, unless you were Drew, because Drew got away with everything.

"Thank you," she whispered to Tyson, genuinely pleased by his compliment. Nobody had ever really called her pretty before, except for Luke, but he didn't really count.

"Carson! That is enough! No speaking!" Wow, her teacher actually expressed emotion. That was rare. But Annabeth was never sarcastic, so she simply nodded meekly.

"Yes, sir."

The rest of class passed without incident, and pretty soon Annabeth was on her way out the front doors of the school to be picked up by her brother. Luke was twenty two now, and was going to graduate from the local college come May in a few months. He was home on the weekends, so he would drive her home from school on Fridays.

As she neared his car in the pick-up lane, he rolled down his window, revealing his blond hair and charming-as-ever smile. "Hey there, little owl!"

"Dork," she replied as she stuffed her backpack into the back seat of his white car. "I may be an owl, but I haven't been a _little_ owl for a few years," she laughed.

"Eh, you'll always be my little owl, little sister." Even though she was his adoptive sister, they still knew each other merely as brother and sister, since they practically grew up together. On a more serious note, Luke began speaking, "You ready for tomorrow?"

The following weekend was the one weekend of the year that Annabeth would get to see her father, and she always looked forward to it, but every time her father would ask her to come back and live with him again. She would remember how awful it was to be with her stepmother and stepbrothers, who didn't care for her at all, and she would remember how much she loved her dad, and how wonderful it was to live with him and how much he loved her. Every year, she had to emotionally prepare herself for the Big Question, as they called it, and it broke her heart every time to refuse.

"I think so," she took a deep breath and slowly released it. The rest of the drive home was quiet, but not an awkward silence, a peaceful silence that you only ever achieve with your closest friends and family.

* * *

This year, May had decided to meet Frederick out for coffee with Annabeth before letting them have their own time together. They met at a local shop, a humble hole in the wall, but it was allegedly Annabeth's favorite.

Aromas of roasted coffee beans enveloped Annabeth the moment she entered the door to the little _ding!_ of a bell above the entrance, and she visibly relaxed, the stiffness melting out of her shoulders and all of her worries about today fleeing from her mind. May strode toward the counter to order both of their usuals from the bartender, Zoe, while Annabeth sat down in their favorite booth. Zoe was a klutz with all things mechanical but she was sweet and very personable so the management couldn't bring themselves to fire her.

The Castellans had arrived early because Annabeth couldn't bear to ever be late to anything, even something as casual as a father-daughter outing.

May returned a few minutes later with two steaming to-go cups and a big smile. She handed one to her daughter who gave a grateful, "Thanks, Mom," and they began to chat while sipping their respective drinks. Annabeth loved the coffee here, and she always ordered her favorite, a single-shot peppermint-chocolate latte. She claimed that two shots of espresso was too bitter, but one was just right, and she loved the peppermint aftertaste she got which lingered for hours afterward.

In no time at all the women heard another _ding!_ from the front entrance and they turned to see the blond haired Frederick approaching them in their booth.

"Ladies! Good to see you!" May nodded in acknowledgement and stood to shake his hand, a small smile on her face. "And Annabeth! You've grown since I last saw you! My baby girl, is almost a - a," he took a moment to become dramatically choked up, "a woman!"

Annabeth just rolled her eyes at her father, "You say that every year, Dad. Of course I've grown, I'm a teenage girl. And honestly, you're so overdramatic sometimes." He didn't respond, just leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"So," he clapped his hands together, "are you guys ready to get this party started? I've got a whole day planned for us, and-"

"Actually," May cut him off, "I was just going to let you two have the day together. I don't want to butt in on your guys' fun."

Annabeth shrugged, "Why not? Are you sure?" she directed at her mother, who positively hummed in response. "Alright. I'll see you tonight."

As the father and daughter left the shop, May watched them go, pride sparkling in her eyes at watching how much her daughter had grown up.

* * *

First up on Mr. Chase's agenda was to go out to lunch. "It will give us time to catch up on the last year," he claimed. So out to lunch they went, eating at Subway. It was nothing fancy, but it was healthy and Annabeth could get something for her taste while her father could satisfy his meatlover's craving.

They spent the duration of their meal simply telling each other the highlights of their last year. She told him of how fun her school was, though she left out the detail that she didn't have any friends at said school. He explained in extravagant detail his latest project for his occupation as a historian, garnering many laughs from his daughter.

After Subway he had planned for them to see the latest superhero movie at the theater, with lots of buttery popcorn for the both of them.

Finally, the duo returned home to the Castellan residence for a homecooked meal and a board game.

Annabeth was having so much fun, and she thought, _This almost feels as though we're a real family. All of us here, together, my mother, father, brother and I._ It was almost too good to be true.

She had almost forgotten why she was nervous about today in the first place. Almost. But the evening passed, and soon it was time for her father to return to the airport for his flight home. And he had never once asked her to come back with him. She thought for a moment that maybe after all these years of refusal he had finally realized that she was never coming back. Sure, she had fun while he was here, but these weekends they spent together felt like fakes. Like she was faking who she was, so she could be the daughter he saw in her, the girl she used to be before he moved away, before he never saw her anymore, before she realized that showing off gets you nowhere. It only gets you hated. That sparkle he saw in her eyes when she laughed, that only existed once a year. The rest of the time her eyes were dull and dark and stormy. The musical laughter he was rewarded with for being witty was closed up into its case for three hundred and sixty four days of the year. When he left, Annabeth went back to her normal quiet life, being a normal quiet girl.

Maybe she was lying to him, but she couldn't bring herself to break his heart over her.

But as the thought flitted through her mind, the inevitable and predictable happened once again. Luke and Mrs. Castellan excused themselves from the table to clean up the dessert dishes, and he took his chance.

"Hey, Annie, are you sure you don't want to come home with me? It's not too late."

She sighed. "No, Dad." Annabeth turned away, because she couldn't bring herself to see the pain in his eyes.

"Are you sure?" he persisted. "I bought an extra plane ticket. You can pack your bags now and we can leave. _You can come back home._ " Annabeth was shocked. Usually a simple 'no' and he would sigh, defeated, and leave the topic alone. He'd never asked a second time before. "Your mother and I miss you, your brothers too. They can hardly remember what you look like anymore, without the pictures I show them of you. _We miss you, Annie._ We want you back. Please?"

She didn't know what had gotten into her. Maybe it was that she just couldn't handle lying to him anymore.

"Dad, I said _no._ N-O no. I don't want to come back with you, and I certainly can't come home with you. _This_ is my home now. I've lived over half my life with the Castellans, and I am a Castellan myself. They know me better than you ever could. They know that I haven't gone by Annie for four years now! They know that I don't like these weekend visits anymore because you always try to pressure me into leaving my family! That's right, your wife and sons aren't my family. _They_ are," she pointed to the kitchen where Luke and her mother had gotten very quiet all of a sudden before continuing.

"Your wife isn't my mom, and she never has been. And your sons? They've never liked me, and the feeling is mutual. I don't care about Billy and Michael, or whatever their names are. My brother is Luke, and he is my _only_ brother. I am old enough to choose who my family is, and I choose these guys. Maybe I don't have a father in this life that I have, but I'm okay with that! I'm never coming back with you, get it through your head! Maybe I still love you, but if I do then I love you enough to stop lying to you. It would be easier for everyone if you just left. So please, Frederick, get out of my life." By now Annabeth had tears glistening in her eyes, and she was about to collapse from the pain of what she had just said. The painful part was that every word she said was true.

But she simply couldn't bear to see his face anymore, or the pain that she caused evident in his expression, so she just spun around and raced up the staircase to her bedroom, where she collapsed on her bed and sobbed. She sobbed and cried and she knew it was ugly but she didn't care.

As she cried, she had her face buried in her bedspread, so she couldn't see the things happening in her room. She couldn't see the books flying off of her bookshelf as if of their own accord, or the papers swirling off of her desk and spiraling into every corner of the room. She didn't see the absolute mess that her bedroom was making of itself, and if she had seen it, she wouldn't've cared.

By the time her father had left and Luke came to check on her a half hour later, she still hadn't moved from her fetal position in the middle of her mattress. Her sobs had ended a while ago, and now she was dry sobbing and laying in her own sorrow. He quietly rapped his knuckles on the door, and when he received no response, he let himself in. His eyes didn't see mess of her room, they only saw Annabeth. She was the only thing that mattered right now.

"Annabeth?"

She looked up through puffy eyes to see him sitting on the edge of the mattress. "Oh god, you look awful," she heard him say, but her eyes were still blurry so she couldn't see him very well yet.

" _Thanks_ ," she replied sarcastically, which confused her brother. Had he said something to her? No. He'd thought to himself that she looked awful, but he hadn't said anything. "Seriously, I heard you the first time, you don't need to rub it in."

Luke decided to not worry about his sister's delirium and to just focus on helping her. "Your room is a mess, what did you do?" Annabeth looked up again, as if she hadn't realized that her bedroom wasn't its usual pristine, alphabetically chronologically color-coded organized self. In fact, every surface was either empty of its contents or a jumble of papers from her desk. "Here, let me help you clean up," he offered before beginning to gather her books and replace them on the shelves in their designated places.

The entire time Annabeth merely watched him, in a trance-like state, dumbstruck as to how this could have happened.

"I'm gonna go get you some ice cream, 'kay?" He snapped her out of her daydreaming to give a stiff nod, before he left to go downstairs. He returned shortly with a small tub of mint-chocolate-chip ice cream, which they always kept on hand if Annabeth was craving ice cream or if she was emotional from hormones.

By now Annabeth had cleared her eyes and she could see her brother when he brought her a bowl and spoon. "Here ya go," he said as he gave them, along with the whole tub of ice cream, to her.

She looked up at him, about to say her thanks when he spoke. "Oh, Annabeth, I'm so sorry this had to happen. I promise I'm gonna do whatever it takes to help you feel better." She froze. Yes, she had heard him talking, but he hadn't moved his mouth. How had he done that?

"What was that?"

"I didn't say anything." "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, you did, just then again. You spoke without moving your mouth. How did you do that?"

"I didn't do anything," he 'spoke'. Then, "I didn't do anything," he told her.

Annabeth didn't say anything. Instead she thought, _Can I_ hear _what you're_ thinking _?_

* * *

 **Yay, the plot thickens! This chapter was 2,848 words, which is about 150% what the last one was. I know I'm not the best author, but I'm trying. Next time I think we're going to see the beginning of Earth's story, and maybe I'll show a little bit of some other recognizable characters next time too!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Fyr**


	3. And Choices

**Right, haha, so I lied a little bit. I'm not doing Earth for this chapter, I'm doing Air. I took a few days to figure out the layout for the first eight chapters or so, so updates might be out a little faster. On the other hand, they may not. Before we begin, I have three notes:**

 **1.) I changed Annabeth's age in the previous chapter to sixteen instead of fifteen, it makes the story flow a bit better, trust me.**

 **2.) This chapter takes place the summer/fall before the previous chapter did. Keep that in mind when you read: This happened before Mind's story did.**

 **3.) Wow! You guys are awesome! I never expected to get so much support on my story after only two chapters! I will put review responses at the bottom of each chapter.**

* * *

Air

* * *

Tonight was nothing special. Jason had planned a movie date with his girlfriend Drew, and they were going to go out to dinner at a sit-down fast-food place. He was dressed in nothing but his usual purple t-shirt and jeans and Nike tennis shoes, and he set off to her apartment from his to pick her up for their date.

Dinner was pretty good, and he was looking forward to the movie later on; it was one which he had been dying to see since he had first watched the previews in the theater. Drew had wanted to see a chick flick, but with a sigh she agreed to see the action movie he had picked out. He suspected she only said yes because the movie had her favorite actor in it.

And yes, he found, the new Tristan McLean movie lived up to his legacy of being awesome. He enjoyed the plot and character development thoroughly. Drew enjoyed the abs and shirtless scenes thoroughly.

That evening, as they were walking out of the theater, he deviated them from their course back to her apartment to a seldom-visited park slightly out of the heart of L.A. He had planned a short candlelit dessert picnic during dusk as a perfect end to a perfect day.

If only it had ended up that way.

Rather, right when Jason was about to tell Drew to open her eyes to see the surprise, his still-silenced phone buzzed in his pocket. "One sec," he stated, before proceeding to read his Aunt Tia's message.

 _Is this bad timing? Sorry if it is. I need to tell you, I got a promotion offer for my job, they're already paying for our new apartment and everything. As soon as you're done, you need to come home and start packing up your things. We leave in a week._

Of course this is bad timing, he wanted to say. Instead, he just slid his phone back into his pocket and said, "Okay, open your eyes."

Drew gave a small gasp in wonder at the beauty around her. Jason gestured to the picnic blanket and basket beside them, on which they both proceeded to sit. He opened the basket to reveal homemade cookies. "Jason Grace, did you make these all by yourself?" she gasped.

"Mhmm!" he replied, but after a few seconds of a suspicious glare he confessed, "with a little help from Mom."

"As I thought," she laughed. He playfully shoved her shoulder. "Hey!" she laughed harder.

"Do you want some or not?"

They continued their banter for a few minutes until conversation gave way to a peaceful silence as they leaned back against a tree, his arm around her shoulders and she cuddling into his side.

"Are you happy?" she asked.

He was about to immediately reply in the affirmative, but Tia's message came back into his mind. He sat up. "No."

Drew turned to look at him. "No? Why not?"

He sighed. "Mom got a new job offer. A promotion. And she says we have to move. She didn't say where, I don't know. We could be moving only an hour away," his voice dropped the optimism, "or not. I didn't know until tonight, otherwise I would've told you. But she says we leave next week." Jason looked down into her eyes. "I don't want to leave you. If it was up to me, I would always be here to make you happy."

Her face was mere inches from his. Her eyes flickered to his lips for a split second, and then back up to his eyes, asking for permission. His piercing blue gaze continued to stare through her brown one, and they slowly leaned closer, eyes closing, until he stopped, his lips a mere centimeter from hers.

"But it's not." His breath brushed her lips, but he leaned back, shattering the moment. "It's not my choice. And as much as I would love to kiss you, I don't think that would be the best thing for us. I've never really heard of a long-distance relationship working out, and so I think . . . I think it might be best if we . . ." He was interrupted by a blast of thunder a few miles away. The air started cooling rapidly, and he glanced up to see the sky clouding over before looking back to his girlfriend.

"If we what?" her soft voice questioned, her big brown eyes beginning to fill.

"If we part ways as friends?" He sounded unsure.

"You're breaking up with me? After all this time, you're breaking up with me?!" she was almost beginning to get hysterical.

His heart broke to see her this way. "No, no baby, don't cry," he tried to reach for her face to wipe her tears away, but she leaned back. "I'm not breaking up with you, I just think we should think about this a little more before we make any decisions. Here, how about you come back to my place and sleep over. Is that okay?"

She nodded, though she gave no verbal answer. Jason knew that sometimes Drew's father drank, and that she didn't want to risk finding a drunk Mr. Tanaka at home. He helped her up, and she allowed him to place his arm around her shoulders as they turned to walk back home.

Before they could turn down his street, she asked, "Is it okay if I go home to get my stuff first?"

"Of course, baby."

So Drew turned left and Jason turned right, and they both hurried home to get sheltered before the impending storm. She lived a mere block away from where they split, but he lived six blocks away.

As he walked, he tried to think about what had just happened. _Was that our first argument? Have we broken up?_ He supposed so, for both of the questions. So now he was walking home from an argument with his now-ex girlfriend. He heard thunder rumbling, louder this time, and sped up, trying not to get caught in the storm.

Just then the heavens opened up and poured down on him, and he was drenched within seconds. All the other people in L.A. were smart and they were safely inside their homes. He was the only one on the street. He hoped Drew was home by now, because even though this was a summer storm, this water was still _cold!_

He was halfway home when there was a sudden ear-rattling _boom!_ and the for a split second he saw daylight. For that split second, he felt some sort of energy running through his body, a combination of adrenaline and euphoria, and for that split second, all of his worries washed away. Jason was powerful in that split second. But then the moment ended. Nobody had seen anything happen, and nothing outside seemed different.

He chose to shrug it off, and worry about getting home for now.

* * *

Tia was there when he got there. "Hey Mom, I'm home!" he called to her place in the living room. "Drew's coming over." He walked from the entry hall to the living room, where the television was paused. Jason looked to his aunt, "Drew doesn't want to go home tonight, is it ok if she sleeps over here?"

Tia's soft motherly voice flowed over the boy, "Of course honey. Let me go get the spare room ready." With that, she left to prepare the bed, and Jason was left to sit on the couch and contemplate what just happened. He didn't care that he was leaving wet spots on the couch as he leaned back and ran his fingers through his hair.

So what he knew was that he had been out in a thunderstorm in the rain. Thunder means lightning. Lightning means light. He'd heard thunder when the street lit up. Did lightning hit the street? But then what of that feeling he got. It confused him. The only thing he knew about that feeling was that it felt great, _he wanted more_. But wait . . . had he been hit by lightning?

By now Tia had come back into the room, "The spare bedroom is ready for her. Shouldn't she be here soon?"

It took a couple seconds for her question to sink in, Jason was still in shock from his prior realization. "Hm? Oh, yeah."

Tia walked closer to him, concern in her eyes. "Jason, are you alright? You seem . . . put off by something."

Jason didn't want to mention the lightning thing just yet, he wanted to figure that out before he told anyone. "Nothing much. Drew and I had a bit of an argument. I think we broke up." Tia let out a small 'oh' and brought her hand to her face. "I told her about that text you sent me, actually. That's what started it. So you got a promotion?"

She nodded.

"That's great! I'm happy for you. But you said we have to move. Where exactly is this job offer?" Tia looked down, as if she didn't want to answer that question. Thankfully, for her, the doorbell rang at that moment.

"I'll get it," Jason stood up from his wet seat to go open the door. It swung open to reveal a very wet Drew Tanaka lugging an overnight bag on her shoulder. "Hey babe. I'm sorry, I thought you made it home before the storm."

She shook her head. "Yes, I did, but then I couldn't find an umbrella anywhere, but I'm here now, and that's what matters." Jason nodded, giving her a wet hug.

"Come on, Mom was about to tell me where we're moving." He led her to the living room where Tia was still sitting. "So," he said, "you were saying?"

Tia still looked nervous. "Jason, honey, my new job offer . . . It's in New York."

"What?!" he cried. He'd expected nowhere farther than Sacramento. "What do you mean?! Why did you take it?"

Drew looked like she was getting emotional again. She gripped Jason's hand as she asked, "So you're leaving me?" He cooed comforting words into her ear. "I don't think-" she hiccuped, "I don't think I can-"

"Shh, shh, it's okay baby," he hushed her, "I got you." She leaned into his chest as she began to shake. He reached his arms around her and hugged her closer.

Jason turned back to his aunt. "Mom, why didn't you talk to me about this? I'm fifteen, you can talk to me about actual stuff that's happening. I deserved to know."

Tia sighed. "I didn't want to - I didn't tell you because I didn't want to ruin your special night with Drew, here."

"That's no excuse." Tia sighed again. Jason turned back to his ex-girlfriend, who was calming down. "Let's go get you into bed. It's late. Here, I'll take your bag." He hefted her bag onto his shoulder and led her down the hallway.

In the guest bedroom, Drew sat down on the bed and looked up at Jason. "What're we going to do. I need you. I _need_ you. I can't just live with my dad."

Jason hushed her again. "Don't you worry about that tonight. Get to bed. We can talk more in the morning." He backed out of the room and left her so she could change into pajamas and prepare for bed in the guest en suite. Sighing, he entered his own bedroom and saw that his aunt had placed a stack of flattened cardboard boxes on the floor, ready for him to start packing. With nothing better to do, he let his mind wander as he packed up miscellaneous knickknacks around the room.

Jason remembered when things were at least semi-normal. Truth be told, his life had never been _actually_ normal.

Sometimes he wished that he had known his actual family. Sometimes he hated them. Most of the time he didn't know what to think. After all, what was he supposed to think of an alcoholic mother who wasn't stable enough to keep him and a father who abandoned him before he was even born? After child services had taken him away, he'd been given to his father's wife, Tia. She had practically raised him.

Jason remembered the first time he had ever called Aunt Tia 'Mom'. He'd been wanting to have a sleepover at his friend's house, but she was adamantly refusing. He really wanted to go, and he asked, " _Pleeeaaassse_ Mom?" She had been so shocked that she finally surrendered and let him go. He decided from that moment onward to call her his mother, because not only did it please her to hear, but it gave him comfort in knowing that he had a mother.

Then a year later when he got a letter saying that his mother had died in a car crash and an invitation to the funeral, he knew even more so that he had made the correct choice. Now he had nothing tying him to his old life, with his mother dead and his father long gone to who-knows-where and never coming back (Tia had made sure of it), he was finally free of his past.

* * *

The next morning Jason awoke on top of the blanket on his bed, still wearing his clothes from the day before. Half asleep, he stumbled down the hall into the kitchen to grab a glass of milk, where he was met by feminine laughter. Not just his aunt's, but another voice as well. It took him much longer than it should have to remember that Drew had slept over the night before, and it was difficult for him to see her without his contacts in. He could, however, make out two blurry humanoid shapes by the breakfast bar, on sitting on a stool and the other standing and leaning against the counter.

"Mo'nin' ladies," he slurred, his voice thick with sleep.

The one sitting on the barstool - he assumed it was Drew - raised a hand to her mouth in an unsuccessful attempt to hide her giggles. "I always forget how cute you look when you've just woken up."

"Yeah, well, I'm cute all the time," he retaliated, to which he received a sarcastic head nod from both women. "What has you so happy, babe?" As he asked, he turned around to open the fridge and retrieve the milk jug..

Drew suddenly perked up even more. "I was texting my dad last night and I asked him if I could go with you guys. I think he may have been drunk, but he replied with 'sure, be safe' so I've been talking it out with your mom and she says that I could stay with you in your new apartment!"

Jason didn't know how to respond. "Drew, wow - I - wow. I mean, that's great and all, but are you sure?"

"I'm sure that I want to be with you."

Tia clapped once, "Then it's a plan! Jason, you can take this day to pack all of your stuff and clothes, and I'm driving Drew over to her apartment so she can do the same. We can meet for lunch at that pizza place next-door."

And that's how the day went. And the next. And the next. By the time a week had passed and the moving truck was pulled up in front of their building, everything was packed to the point that there wasn't anywhere to sit anymore, except the ground, and they had been using extra blankets and sleeping bags for a couple of nights.

The drive to New York could be described as boring, or long, or uneventful. To Drew and Jason, who were now a couple again as they knew they wouldn't be separated, the weeklong journey was one filled with fun, sightseeing, and holding hands in the moving van seat. They enjoyed every minute.

Jason was to be enrolled at the prestigious Thunder Academy for Boys once school started up in August. Drew was going to be a mare at Ocean High School, a public school for both girls and boys. The reason they weren't attending the same school was because Tia had already enrolled Jason prior to learning that Drew was coming with them, and it cost so much unrefundable money that she wasn't going to pull him out of his school just so the lovebirds could see each other.

And so August came, and Jason moved onto the campus of Thunder, into his new dorm and he met his roommate named Chris Rodriguez. He had decided that he would come home every weekend to see his aunt and girlfriend.

The first week was slow, nothing but orientation and class schedules and the like. Chris seemed pretty cool. That weekend he couldn't wait to see his family, he went home as soon as the final bell rang to end classes.

They spent the weekend catching up on the three days they had spent apart. He had no news to report, but she had plenty. Apparently there was this really smart girl in Drew's math class who knew all the answers to all the questions.

"She looks a little like you, tan, blonde, but her eyes are grey and yours are blue."

There was a cute boy in her gym class, "But not that I'm saying he's _cute_ , just objectively . . ." who was in the year younger but gym was coed and for both sophomores and freshmen. "He's actually only like a month younger than you, but he just didn't make it early enough to be in our grade."

* * *

Days passed quickly, weeks even faster, and everything turned into a blur of routine. Things only started slowing down once finals for first semester came around. Jason spent all of his time studying, and didn't come home for the weekends because he couldn't bear to have any distractions.

No matter how hard he studied, he kept struggling with english. He went to an eye doctor to try and find out what was happening, and it turned out that not only did Jason need to get a new prescription for his glasses, but he was dyslexic as well. Nobody knew how they didn't find out until now, but now Jason didn't know what to do or how to help his condition.

He was stressing particularly badly the evening before his english exam _. How am I going to pass this test when I've been getting C-average all year_? He decided to take a walk to help ease his mind. It was winter, so he threw on a jacket before heading out.

The biting cold didn't really seem to bother him too much. Over the past months he had become accustomed to northern weather - for the most part. The worst of winter was yet to come, he knew, so he tried to enjoy the relative warmth while he could.

The wind started picking up and Jason pulled his jacket tighter around him. Worries swam in his head, much like words swam off the pages of his notes _. What if I fail? What if I flunk the class? What if -_

The first raindrop startled him as it landed on his left glasses lens. He wiped it off, and looked into the sky. Dark clouds were rolling in. This may perhaps be the worst storm he's seen so far in New York. He just walked faster, trying to shake his self-doubt away. _I'm going to fail. They're going to kick me out of Thunder and I'm going to have to work to repay Tia for the tuition. I'm going to fail._ Thunder started rumbling through the sky, and the clouds were quickly blotting out the sun. Jason could see lightning flashing in the distance, but getting closer.

He decided to turn back to the dorms and seek shelter from the impending storm. As he began to run, he remembered a similar situation a few months ago.

 _He was halfway home when there was a sudden ear-rattling boom! and the for a split second he saw daylight. For that split second, he felt some sort of energy running through his body, a combination of adrenaline and euphoria, and for that split second, all of his worries washed away. Jason was powerful in that split second. But then the moment ended. Nobody had seen anything happen, and nothing outside seemed different._

He remembered how he was presumably hit by lightning that time in L.A. How had he not died? But he remembered the stress-free feeling it had given him, and he almost wished for it to happen again.

Fortunately, he arrived at the dorm building just in time to make it out of the downfall. The moment he shut the door behind him all heaven broke loose to release a torrential flood on New York City.

Jason climbed the single flight of stairs to his dorm on the second floor and saw that Chris was out getting dinner at the dining hall. _He's not getting back soon_ , Jason thought. His mind wandered back to the thought of the lightning. One question was prominent in his mind: How?

However it had happened, the reckless and sleep-deprived part of his mind thought, _I want to try it again._ So in a half daze, Jason wandered over to the electrical outlet. He wondered what would happen if he did what was always warned against. Slowly, he reached his finger out to touch the outlet, and he felt a jolt of electricity run through him, similar to the time before, just less extreme.

Suddenly, Jason was alert again. He was confident. He was ready. Whatever happened tomorrow, he would be happy today.

* * *

The next morning, however, Jason was stressed again. What was this thing about electricity that relaxed him? Shouldn't it tense him up, mess up his bodily functions, _something_? But no, electricity helped, he found.

The storm had stopped last night, according to Chris. On his account, it had ended just about as abruptly as it had begun, around nine-ish. _Funny_ , Jason thought, _that's about the time I went to bed_.

Jason told him that he had a few errands to run before classes that morning, and that he would be back hopefully before breakfast started. And so Jason left, with a destination of the campus drugstore. He wanted to buy a couple of nine volt batteries to experiment with.

Ten minutes later, four dollars lighter, and with a eight-pack of batteries Jason returned to the dorm. Chris had left already with a couple of friends, but Jason didn't mind much.

He tore open the paper back of the battery packaging and grabbed one. Just to try it, he placed one finger on each of the nodes on the top. Immediately, he felt the tension melt out of his body and he relaxed. Jason didn't know why this worked, but it did. He shoved the battery in his pocket and hurried to the dining hall before he missed breakfast entirely.

* * *

As it turned out, Jason had nothing to worry about. He passed his english test with an A-, and was extremely proud of his grade. For the first time in three weeks, he returned home that weekend to see Tia and Drew.

"So, how did your tests go?" he asked his girlfriend. They were sitting on the bed in her bedroom, which was across the hall from his. She had her own room because she was almost family now, and besides, Tia treated her as her own daughter.

Her face lit up. "I got at least ninety percent on every one!" she told him. "Except math," her voice dropped. "I got a C on that one."

"But that's still a good grade!" he said. "At least you didn't fail!"

"But I practically did!" she said. "And I heard that smart girl, Anne-Beth or something, got a hundred and ten percent," she whispered. " _One hundred and ten percent!_ "

"Maybe you could ask her to tutor you."

"Are you crazy?! I could never! I'm seen as the cool girl from L.A., I could never ruin that reputation!"

Apparently she couldn't see the invalidity of high school reputations. "Drew," he began, "once you leave high school, popularity doesn't matter. Okay? It _doesn't matter_. So I'm going to let you decide if it's better to be popular or to like your grades."

A moment of silence passed. "I just don't like her," Drew finally stated. "She's nothing but a - a goody-two-shoes bitch."

Jason sighed. "If that's the way you want to think of her."

Drew seemed eager to change the subject. "What about you? How's Thunder? Anything interesting happen while you were gone? Ooh! Too many questions! I'll just ask one. How about this: what's one think that shocked you?"

Jason was taken aback by her word choice. "Uhh . . . Myself."

Drew thought that was supposed to mean something metaphorical. "Okay, what did you do that surprised yourself?"

"No, I _literally_ shocked myself." Jason pulled the battery from his pocket and placed his fingers on both nodes, feeling the raw power run through him.

Drew shrieked and pulled his hands off the nine-volt. " _What are you doing?!_ "

He shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. It calms me."

"What are you, some kind of electromaniac?!"

"No, just, lightning, electricity, it soothes me. I don't know how to explain it. But look at what else I can do."

Jason had discovered this trick a couple days ago when he was experimenting with electrical supplies. He soon returned from the hall closet with a light bulb, which he held by the glass. "Look at this." He lifted his other hand and placed it on the metal underside of the lightbulb. And it lit up.

Drew was flabbergasted. "Wha- what - how?"

"Drew," he looked into her eyes, "don't tell Mom, but, I think I can control electricity."

* * *

 **Please don't hate me for putting Jason and Drew together! Everything will work out in the end!**

 **Right, so here are the responses I have. Also, because I like to see people's questions when I'm reading review responses, I will put those in too.**

 **From Daisy Party:** "Yep another great chapter! Ending was awesome! Can't wait for more!" **Was this the more you were hoping for?**

 **From Guest:** "My gods. This has really spiced up and made it all the more awesome! If Annabeth can read minds, and if she meets Percy, does that mean that she'll know when he starts liking her? That's like intrusion on property but nice. Plz come up with a schedule. Cause I can't keep waiting a week to read another awesome chapter." **Thank you so much for your review! This made me so happy to have so much enthusiastic support! I will probably do another chapter checking on Mind soon, and you'll see on the Water thing. But as for the schedule, if I do make one, it will only be once a week. I'm thinking of uploading every Wednesday, but I'm not sure yet.**

 **From Baclava (Guest):** "THIS STORY IS AWESOME! Please continue!" **Thanks! I plan to.**

 **That's all for now folks. I hope you liked the chapter, it was a lot longer this time and I'm not really happy with the way it turned out, but an author is never truly happy with her work, so I'm gonna give it to you without worrying too much. Please tell me what you think! I love getting constructive criticism too, don't hesitate to say something!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Fyr**


	4. IMPORTANT NOTE

i am writing this on a school computer because my dad installed net nanny on my home computer. i dont know when i will next get to update, but i also want you to know that i have lost inspiration for this story, its just too ambitious to try to write 8 stories at once in one. i do however have an idea for a similar story to this but only about annabeth and maybe percy with powers. i dont know when i will give you another chapter, im gonna spend a bit just writing the first few chapters of my story for now. you can check out my other story about frozen if you wanna, but i wont update that one soon either. sorry, my dear readers! hopefully i will have something out soon!


	5. PLEASE READ

IMPORTANT NOTE-

I am no longer able to update this story on this site, due to parental restrictions on my computer. I am, however, switching to Wattpad for Get the Fiancee Out of the Way. Affiliation will be discontinued, due to the overwhelming amount of content in the story and the lack of inspiration, but I will start writing a new percabeth story soon hopefully.

You can find me on Wattpad under the same username as here.

Sorry, all, but this cannot be helped

-Fyr


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